Village of the damned: Rescue ‘fortress’ in Tanzania protects albinos from human hunters who want to sell their body parts to witch doctors
This is the one safe haven for albinos in constant danger from vicious human hunters who want to 'butcher' them and sell their body parts to witch doctors.

Persecution of albinos is rooted in the belief that the body parts can transmit magical powers, however, they are also ostracised by those who believe that they are cursed and bring bad luck.

In some places, they are killed at birth, ritually sacrificed, or raped because it is believed that having sex with an albino can cure AIDS.

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This is the one safe haven for albinos in constant danger from vicious human poachers who want to sell their body parts to witch doctors. At the centre, a hundred albinos live alongside people with a range of physical and mental impairments

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Epafroida lives at the refuge centre and dreams of opening her own textile business in a nearby market. It should have plenty of business given that albinos always need clothes to protect themselves form the sun's rays

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An albino person's skin has little or no melanin, which is an effective blocker of solar radiation, and this makes them extremely vulnerable to the sun. These children were sunglasses and hats to protect themselves

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The Tanzanian government set up special protective centres for people with albinism after many had to flee their homes from traffickers. Non-albinos also live there, many of whom fled villages with albino family members

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Dermatologist Luis Rios measures a tumour on Dada Molel to monitor her response to treatment at the Regional Dermatology Training Centre in Moshi, one of few places offering help for these people

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The Tanzanian Albinism Society has an estimated 8,000 registered people with albinism, but they estimate that Tanzania has a much larger population of albino people who are either unaware of the charity's work or choose to stay in hiding

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Hadija braids Zawia's hair in a shady spot where Zawia faces less risk of sun damage in the centre which offers a safe haven for many who would be in danger elsewhere in the country

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Baswira Ntotye shelters inside the huts of Kabanga to get away from the sun in the special centre, where some facilities are basic but they can at least live in safety

Many choose to flee their villages, among them albinos and sometimes whole families trying to escape the stigma and persecution they face from having a 'white' child.

Photojournalist Ana Palacios, 43, visited the Kabanga Refuge Centre in Tanzania three times between 2012 and 2016 to find out more about the plight of albino people.

The Tanzanian Albinism Society has an estimated 8,000 registered men, women and children with albinism, but they estimate that Tanzania has a much larger population of albino people who are either unaware of the charity's work or choose to stay in hiding.

Ana said: 'The Tanzanian government has found it necessary to set up special centres to protect people with albinism, who have fled their villages for fear of being butchered by traffickers who sell their limbs and organs to witch doctors to prepare their prized good luck potions.

'They are victims maimed by witchdoctors to make potions, raped because they are considered able to cure AIDS and alienated by the society, because they are considered magical.'

On her first visit in 2012, Ana stayed at the Kabanga refuge with Spanish NGO AIPC Pandora, who are providing invaluable support to the albino community.

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Grace Manyika, who has a job at the camp, checks the jars before sending the product to the distribution centres in Moshi

Bath times start at sunset in Kabanga and it is the safest time of the day for the children to expose their skin to the sun

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Sang'uti Olekuney demonstrates how to apply Kilisun, a Tanzanian-made sunscreen designed for people with albinism

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Aisha Adam is one of the few children who lives at the centre with her family - her mother and three brothers

Many of the women have fled with small babies because they are at risk of being killed by villagers and having a 'white' baby places stigma on the entire family

Some 200 people work the land, tend their gardens, make their own clothes, run community kitchens, canteens and classrooms, but this lively, happy village masks the centre's true purpose - to be a protective fortress.

The photographer said: 'Genetic chance has made them exceptional beings and has brought them together here in order to survive.

'Many of them have had to flee from their homes for fear of being butchered simply for having albinism; others ended up here after being abandoned by their families, who were ashamed of them.

'A "white" child is a stigma for the family. They are cared for less, given less to eat and educated less. In some tribes albino children may be killed at birth, abandoned or offered for ritual sacrifice.

'It is hard for them to find a partner, since their condition as 'damned' beings scares others. Their own neighbours say that people with albinism do not die, they fade away, or that to touch one is to risk becoming white or falling ill.'

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Zawia, who speaks Swahili, English and sign langauge, aspires to be a teacher at the centre that has offered her refuge

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The women who flee to the centre with their albino children also act as guardians for the others who have been abandoned

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Daudi Mavura, director of the Regional Dermatology Training Centre and Rodgers Nonde, a second year house office, apply cryotherapy to precancerous lesions on an 18-year-old patient

Even though significant progress is being made in the protection of people with albinism, Ana believes that education is the only way to prevent the malicious prejudice they face.

She added: 'There is also an urgent need for forceful action by the justice system to end the impunity of the hunters.'

Ana hopes her images will open people's eyes to the extreme persecution albino people have to deal with.

She believes that attitudes will only start to transform when awareness campaigns are spread among those without albinism.

But being maimed and ostracised is a distant thought, compared to the threat from the sun they face every day.

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Children at the centre finish school at five in the afternoon and return to the complex where they can feel safer playing outside than in the places they are from

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The centre suffers from a shortage of water and when rainwater supplies run out they have to fetch it from the hospital well

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A young boy with albinism plays with a hoop and stick in a place where children must make the most of the toys available

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Eleven-year-old Kelen loves to dance in the half-built rooms of the centre, which always needs more space to accommodate more albinos, who are constantly arriving

There is a mounted man-eating lion at the Field Museum in Chicago. The plaque next to it describes how it terrorized a Zambian village, killing several residents who refused to fight back because they BELIEVED IT WAS A SORCERER!! And this wasn't centuries ago. This was 1991.

There is a mounted man-eating lion at the Field Museum in Chicago. The plaque next to it describes how it terrorized a Zambian village, killing several residents who refused to fight back because they BELIEVED IT WAS A SORCERER!! And this wasn't centuries ago. This was 1991.